In a significant advance toward the elusive quantum computer, physicists have stored snippets of quantum information at room temperature for more than 1,000 times as long as any previous experiment.

Quantum information comes in units called qubits, which can be in one of two states or, thanks to quantum weirdness, both states at once. This combined state lasts longest at temperatures near absolute zero. Scientists have struggled to make qubits that can survive anything close to room temperatur...